to me, sourdough bread making is the soul of flour. here is my take on flour:

as suspected, bread machine bakes very decent bread! the crust isn’t great but the crumb is fine! here is my take on baking bread in a regular oven, but imitating the oven of a bread machine.

this is my simplified basic sourdough bread on a loaf pan. 100 gr starter, 500 gr flour which 20% is fresh milled wheat, 250 gr water, 6 gr salt. first rise till it doubles, takes 8-12 hours, punch down and shape into a loaf. place on oiled loaf pan, should be half full. rise till slightly more than double till u see a slight dome over the top of the pan, about 1/2 inch over the pan.

no slash, no oven preheating, no oven stone, and no ice.

place on bottom oven rack. turn oven to 400 oF. count 60 min.

at 20 min, the bread rose over 2 inches!

to me, it really is a miracle that bread can rise like this on a cold oven!